5A State Champions!!!

My brother Chris is one of the coaches of the Cedar Hills High School football team and as you may know from a earlier post, a week ago Saturday, they won the semi-finals and were headed to State!!!  Well, this past Saturday we went to Cowboy Stadium to watch Cedar Hills Vs. Katy.  Katy was favored to win, this would have been like their 9th State Championship, and in fact it is who Cedar Hills lost to last year and took 2nd place at State....so it was really awesome, when Cedar Hills and Chris won the State Championship!!  It was a very exciting game that kept us on the edge of our seat all night!!  The final score was 34 to 24!!  So happy and proud of Chris and his team!!  Congratulations!!

One of the really sweet moments was after the game watching the field and seeing Chris' fiance' run out to him and them hugging and then Chris putting the 1st place medal around her neck!  It was really awesome and made me tear up a little!  Everyone says I'm such a romantic.  Well, I am and what is wrong with that???  It's really wonderful to see them so happy and in love!! So, shoot me!! Now we can just look forward to the wedding in June!!  No more stress.....lol!!

 

Friday this week is for Visiting Teaching.....

Friday after I got off of work at 12:30, MaryAnn Stephens and I went to pick up Becky Wangler to go to lunch and to visit for the first time the Factory Outlet mall on I-20 in Arlington!  I have to say, we loved it and it was a huge success (shopping wise) and we laughed and had so much fun together!!  Since Becky and I had exchanged gifts Thursday night I assumed that we were not going to exchange gifts but oh, noooooo, Becky brought a gift for me too! You really can never get ahead of this girl....she is just too thoughtful!!  But MaryAnn made up for my lack with a great Coach clutch for her!!!   As for our other sisters, I dropped off a Christmas decoration gift and visited Mary Arrington who had been in the Hospital, but now in rehabilitation.  And now we just need to celebrate Anita Williams birthday and see Vera Moore!!  We will get it done....little by little!  You can count on us!!

"Saving Mr. Banks" - The best movie of the year!!

Thursday night after the kids left it is tradition that we (Becky, Shawna, and I) hit the new release midnight showing of whatever movie is coming out on Friday, i.e. Catching Fire, Hobbit, etc...  And this Thursday was no exception, but I have to say, even though I really loved Catching Fire, Hobbit etc...and was counting down the days to their release date....."Saving Mr. Banks" is by far the best movie of the year!  Loved, loved, loved it!!  And I love it even more because its a true story or at least based on true facts!

This being the last Thursday before Christmas it was also the time that we decided to exchange gifts!  So after the movie we went to Denny's where I had an official Hobbit breakfast...lol!!  It was a lot of fun and I'm grateful for my friends that love going to movies as much as I do!!

At the Movie Tavern to see the movie!!



Opening presents at Denny's

official hobbit holes breakfast!!

When we went to IHOP for Breakfast on Thanksgiving day after our run, John asked about the Hobbit Breakfasts he had seen advertised.  It's at Denny's son!  Sorry!!  I ate this for you!! Lol!!

Saying goodbye to Charlotte and family....

Thursday night Charlotte, Allison, and John came to see us one last time before they headed off for their Christmas Holiday with the Rex's!!  It was fun to see and play with Charlotte one last time before the long withdrawl!!  I am excited for their trip and for the Rex's to get to see Charlotte again, she has changed so much and has taken her first steps!!  They will have a great time and since we have been having extremely cold and stormy weather this year here in Texas I'm excited that they will be somewhere really warm and tropical!!  Have a great time! We will miss you though!!


playing patty cake!!

 



No Words are needed!!

I died laughing when I saw it!  Such a classic going to see Santa photo!!

Drill Instructor School Graduation!!

My nephew Andy Winslow, who is in the Marines and serving with distinction, has just added to his resume another reason to be so proud of him!!  He has just graduated Drill Instructor School!  And not only did he graduate but he won the Unit Leader award for having the highest score in the class for drill competition, an event in which DI's march to a platoon, calling various commands and being judged therein.  He has always been the best in his unit since joining the marines and has advanced at an incredibly fast pace due to hard work, sacrifice, and willingness to do what it takes!!  I was also really excited that my sister, Kim, was able to be there to witness this great achievement as well as getting to she her son and daughter-in-law, Andy's beautiful wife Katie!  Congratulations!! ooh-rah!!!!


Unit Leader Award



Graduation Ceremony



Drill Sargent Andy Winslow



Andy with his Mom, Kim



Andy with his wife, Katie

The Semi-Finals.....

My brother Chris is one of the football coaches at Cedar Hills High School and their team was in the 5A Semi-finals Saturday and they won!!  It was a very exciting game and I was so glad that I went to Waco, and braved the cold weather, to watch his team take home the trophy and move on to the next step on the road to possibly being State Champions!!  Great job Chris and Congratulations!!  I'm just a little proud!!

Cedar Hills vs Lake Travis of Austin

Chris and Ashley after the WIN!!

 

Cedar Hill Longhorns the semi-final champs!!
 

 

Merry Christmas 2013 from the Alan Brown Family!!

Aileen's Christmas Party!!

Saturday was her Texas Home Living provider - Berry Family Services, Christmas Party for their clients.  Since it was Yency's Saturday for respite care with Aileen anyway, she asked me if I wanted her to take Aileen to the party!  What a great idea!  I really love respite care and really really love Yency who provides it!!  She had a great visit and enjoyed the celebration and got to see Santa and she even came home with a gift!  She had a great time!  Merry Christmas to Aileen!!  That night was our Ward Christmas party, so we went to that one too! Aileen was just the partying girl!  It had to have been a fun day for her!!

Saturday morning ready to go.....

Friday with Charlotte

Wednesday, I didn't go to Allison's for the afternoon for many different reasons, and I have to say, I really missed getting to spend time with Charlotte!!  So, by Friday, I was anxious to get to be with my girls again (at least with Charlotte and Allison)!!  We went shopping, took a nap, and had dinner.  Then, Grandma got to help with bath time and bedtime!!  It was too cute to see how much she splashes and giggles and has a ball with her bath!!  I really can't believe how much I miss her when we are not together!!

Alan had to work Friday night, so I stayed with the kids that evening and we played single Canasta instead of teams....and Yes, I won!!  I'm really liking the month of December!!  Luck is finally on my side!!

Double feature of the Hobbit

This weeks  big movie release was the 2nd movie of the "Hobbit" so Becky, Shawna and I went to the double feature showing of Hobbit 1 and then 2!  It was great and it was as much fun standing in line was actually seeing the movie....funny how it works that way, part of the fun is standing in line with your friends!!  Not kidding the whole theatre went, "Nooooo!, No Way!!" when the movie ended!!  I guess we have something to look forward to in #3!!!

waiting in line - killing time by reading!!

photo by IMDb

And the stockings were hung.....

I kind of like seeing all the families stockings up that I have made over the years!!  Charlottes now has her name on it.

So proud of Anne Marie!!

Our oldest never ceases to amaze me!!  She has finsihed her first Semester of Nursing school with flying Colors and has worked so hard to get such good grades!!  Of course that is how she rolls!!  We expected nothing less! 

 

We are so proud of you sweetie!! Never doubt that!!  We love you Anne Marie!!

FHE at the Rex's

Monday afternoon, Allison called and invited us over for dinner (she made Fajitas) and to play cards!  Alan had to go to work Monday, but the rest of us were still shut down for the ice storm, but by now the sun has been out and the roads are melting and are pretty clear so we are all excited to be out and about and to see people!!

I needed to run some errands as well, so I mailed my Christmas Cards, dropped off the Christmas sock I finished to Sis. Betty Willden who needed to get it sent off to her family member that was going to get it, and pick up some work at Digi-Clean, where I work part time at home doing assembly work when I can, just to get a little extra income to help with all the home repairs we have had this year!!  While out I needed to fill up with gas, so I got Aileen and I a diet coke (fountain drinks) and knew that she would love that and feel like we were having special Mom/daughter time while running the errands......but as I was running the sock into Sis. Willden's home Aileen dumped my drink all over my car seat (I'm sure she was trying to put it back into the drink holder, I will give her that benefit of the doubt) so I throw out all the ice to the ground as fast as I can then run back up to Sis. Willden's house to ask for a towel to sit in the seat so I can sit on it without having a wet bottom, and when I came back - mental head slap - she has dumped her drink into my seat!!!  Really did I not see that coming and remove her drink while I was gone...NO, what an idiot!!  So I deserve the wet bottom now!!

But I did get all the errands done and then headed to John and Allison's with Aileen where we are going to meet Dad there!!  We had a delightful dinner and enjoyed playing with Charlotte she is so cute now with doing patty cake.....and the toss it in the oven....but she is all about Aunt Aileen all of a sudden.  She wanted to play with Aunt Aileen, especially patty cake, and wanted to sit with Aunt Aileen, touch Aunt Aileen, Kiss Aunt Aileen, hardly had anytime for Grandma and Grandpa!!  When did that happen??  When did Grandma and Grandpa get usurped by Aunt Aileen!!  She did give us lots of kisses later in the night though, so I guess that helps make up for the great slight in the beginning of the evening....lol!!  You know I'm just joking right??

Throw it in the oven!!!

Charlotte has also started to climb everywhere (yes, I have become one of those grandmas that only talks about her grandchild and assumes that everyone wants to hear it!!)  It was fun to watch her get into everything knowing that we were going home and wouldn't have to worry about that ALL THE TIME!!

We played cards and John and I are so happy its December....we beat Allison and Dad in 2 hands of Canasta (usually takes at least 4)!!  And felt we had proven our point that the only reason we lost in October and November is because it was Allison and Dad's birthday months so all the luck was with them!!  Now it has shifted to us!! Yay for us!!  So we switched teams Dad/Mom and Allison/John and Dad/Mom won!!!  Maybe all the luck is with me now......hmmmmm!

One of the coolest moments of the night was after the games and dinner everyone went to the kids apartment bldg.'s gym and we all worked out together either on the treadmill or elliptical or whatever it was we wanted to do.  It was kind of a cool moment to look in the mirror and see all of us lined up doing our workout.  I would have taken a picture put I was sure everyone would holler about that!!  But it was kind of special.

Anyway, it was a great visit and we loved being invited over for dinner.  I brought my cookies I made for dessert.  We loved getting to see Charlotte again.  And we always have fun playing games with our kids!!  So it was a great FHE!! Thanks Allison and John for having us over!!  It's always such a treat!!

4 day ice storm!!!!

Wowzer what a ice storm we have had!  Now if you live somewhere like Utah and Idaho, where snow and ice are an every day occurrence in the wintertime life goes on like normal pretty much, but if you live in the south, like say Texas, its a very big deal and every thing shuts down!!  They just don't have the equipment to clear the roads, nor do Texans who have never lived anywhere else know how to drive in bad weather!  They are really what makes it so dangerous!!  Texas has been closed for 3 days and opening late on the 4th!!  It's kind of been a fun time, but also a time of being shut in.....so its gotten old!!  I'm ready to get back to work!  But more importantly to just get OUT!!!!

Thursday night when the sleet rain was starting Alan went to the Grocery store for us and laughed at what a zoo it was and how he got the last 2 loafs of bread!!  Then we bundled down for the night and woke up to snow, and ice!  And the snow was such great ice that even if you stood on it you did not fall through, you stayed right on top....you literally could ice skate in the stuff...and a friend of ours did, in the school parking lot that was definitely iced over!!

Luckily my Doctor's office had planned for being closed Friday, so I knew we were off, but Alan didn't know for sure until the morning!  Of course all the schools closed, so that meant John was off too!  We checked on everyone (family wise) and only George was without power, but he lives in Plano, so coming here would have been treacherous, luckily he had a friend he and Tytan could stay with until their power came back on!

We were surprised that in the afternoon John and Allison ventured out to come over!!  Of course, they are experts of driving in snow and ice as is Alan so, I guess we shouldn't have been surprised.  But we were thrilled they came.  We played cards and played with Charlotte then decided to go to "The Olive Garden" for dinner!  It was nice that they were open and nice that it wasn't very crowded, since I guess we were one of the few crazies that ventured out!!  It was also fun to give Charlotte her new snow boots I had picked up at the Disney Store while buying her Christmas PJ's!!  Good planning Grandma! 

I will say by the time we got back home I was glad we were home and that we weren't going out anytime soon again!

Saturday, I was able to finish the Christmas sock I was making for one of the ladies in our Ward that bid on my service at the RS Service auction!  I haven't been able to get it to her, but she has seen the picture and is happy with how it turned out!!

Sunday they cancelled Church as did most all congregations of all religions here in Dallas, Fort Worth, Plano area and I will say Saturday and Sunday were more dangerous ice-wise, at least in the DFW area.  My sister Elizabeth said Rowlett didn't get the storm as bad so they did have Church on Sunday.

I've finished 2 books, a Christmas Sock, I finished addressing Christmas Cards, although I haven't been able to mail them yet!!!  I've baked 2 batches of cookies (Oatmeal raisin and Chocolate chip), loads and loads of laundry, and decorated my house for Christmas!!  I will say it has been a productive 4 days.....getting everything done that has been worrying me....like catching up my blog!  Once I get this done and my typing for work, I will have accomplished everything I wanted to do while stuck at home!!  Yay Me!!

It has also reminded me how much I enjoyed being a stay at home mom!!  That was a special time (12 yrs) a time I will always be grateful for!!

Enjoy the pictures of my house decorated for Christmas!!